The Methylation Status Of LFA-1(CD11A) In The Pathogenesis Of Multiple Sclerosis

Objective To examine the methylation status of the promoter sequences of CD11a inblood samples from MS patients and healthy controllers. Methods21MS patients, onlyin their acute stage,were selected into experimental group. Such clinical data as the onsetage, onset manifestation, relapsing interval, EDSS, the result of lumbar puncture andenhanced brain MRI were all collected, and blood samples were taken from each of them.Among the21patients,11of whom had been taken blood samples again during theirremission period and selected into experimental group either.32age-and-gender matchedhealthy people were selected as normal controllers, and taken blood sample individually.Then the CD4T lymphocyte were sorted by flow cytometer from all blood samples. At last,the methylation status were compared among the whole experimental group and controlgroup, the acute ones and the corresponding controllers, the acute group and remissiongroup, the remission group and the corresponding control respectively by the method ofpaired t-test. Result Compared to the corresponding control group, the methylation statusdecreased in the acute stage and increased to normal level in the remiss period（P＜0.05）.There was no correlation between the special clinical data,like onset age, onsetmanifestation, relapsing interval, EDSS,the result of lumbar puncture and enhanced brainMRI, and the methylation status. Conclusion The methylation status of CD11a wasrelated to the disease state, but was not correspondent with severity and outcome of MS;besides, we still do not quite sure whether or nor the methylation status of designated geneis responsible for the MS pathogenesis.